Dragline ripper



Sept 9, 1952 G. uoTlLA ETAL 2,610,047

DRAGLINE RIPPER Filed June 12, 194? l V Y. 7 5 ph j L :HHN 97 I 1 9 72 72/ il! E E 70 70\ L H, 2- l 1-: o J: -2 Inl g """f g f2 2 I ,MINI/] Patented Sept. 9, 1952 John W. Sandusky,

a Seattle, assignor'to said Sandusky` Applieatimrun12,1941,seria11-o.754,198

,alla

This invention relateshto .new and Vuseful improvements in dragline rippers.

An. object of the invention is` to provide a simple, strong, durable Vmechanism which will quickly and ehciently loosen bedrock `that istoo securely embedded to be removed by the ordinary dragline buckets, Scrapers, or other standard excavating equipment.

,The development of this invention arose from the necessity to establish bedrock drains in connection with placer mining. This requires a tool that will loosen bedrock so that the regular excavating equipment could remove the loosened bedrock thus ,forming a gravity drain ditch below the natural upper surfaceof the bedrock.

Until drainage is established, the cuts are usually' Wet and full .of` `loose gravel, making drilling and blasting impractical. So with the regular excavating equipment, it is attempted to cut suicent bedrock to establish thedrain, with the result that great damage is suifered by the regular 'excavating Vequipment which is not rugged enough and is not designed for such work, much time is lost and inadequate drainage results.

When theinvention herein is employed or to be used, the regular excavating equipment is `used until bedrockis reached, after Which it is replaced by the device ofthis invention which is used until the bedrock has-been torn up suiiicientlyf to be handled with the standard excavation u equipment. Y y

It is another object of this inventiontq provide a device which is adapted to be manipulated bymeans of two cables and to be dragged along the bedrock to rip-the surface thereof, which 'is achieved by means of its extremely heavy weight and strong ripping teeth.

It is a further object to provide means whereby the slope of the ripper frame and solidly connected teeth may be altered by a front connected cable while in motion to vary the tooth angle at will.

Still another object is to provide simple cable means to lift the front of the ripper at will to clear the front tooth from the loose rock and cause the device to slide on the two rear teeths bottoms. In this position the device acts as a scraper, moving the loosened rock so it will not interfere with the ripping action of the teeth on the next trip.

Further and more specific objects, features and advantages will more clearly appear from the detailed specification set forth hereinafter especially when considered in connection with the ac companying drawings which illustrate a present "i Z Claims.

2 preferred `form which the invention may assume andwhich form part of. the speciiication. l.

In brief and general terms, the invention comf prises y.al heavy ripper'` frame and teeth` which in the small experimental model weighed four tons.,

and required up to twenty tons to drag it through bedrock `by nfieans` ofside connections., through themedium of anoverhead cable, the slope of the frame and. teeth which are.ri`gidly1connected canbe Y'altered at Will. l

The frame is provided with three strongly ernbedded or fastened heavy teeth, two of which are disposed to the rear of the center of gravity and on opposite sidesof the frame. JBetween these rear teeth is a largeopeningextending from top to bottom of theframe and back ofthis opening is a dependent scraper edge whichmay corne into play whenthe front of the frame is elevateclsuf` iiciently whereby thev surface material canbe scraped up into` and thrnug-hf theppening and during which the spacedf rear side teeth Vv help `to confine and direct thef movement vthrough the opening `of the` material thus loosened. A

`The device is controlled like a dragline bucket.

Suspended and; cast into position, with the hoist line and pulled` to j ther machinewith the drag cable.` V"Ifheteetlrare located to put aminimum strain` onA .the hoist line; `vhowever, if `the digging is tough, the loadfline` can be tightened,. thus `putting'the maximum-Weight 'on the two rear teeth. If they `then do not start to rip, thelfront end can be vraised until the 4desired diggingangleof the rearvteetheis attained.` a 1 ,a

flbhe present preferred -form whichtheinvenftionmay assume vis illustrated in `the drawings of which- Fig. 1 is plan View of the ripper;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one form of tooth;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation thereof;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of another form of tooth and fastening means therefor; and

Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the tooth shown in Fig. 6.

As shown in the drawings, the invention in the form illustrated, comprises a heavy at rectangular frame I0 which is of solid cast steel and may Weigh, even in the small sizes, as much as several tons. In the form shown the ripper frame is provided with a plurality of teeth sockets Il, preferably tapered, into which teeth I2 having similarly tapered upper ends are wedged and welded and are provided also with suitably shaped lower ends for the purpose of ripping open the bed-rock surface. As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the teeth may also be fastened in place by a pin I3 passing through a hole in the upper end of the teeth and resting on the top of the frame. The pin I3 may be welded in place. Preferably there is one of these teeth toward the front of the frame in the middle thereof and tWo at the rear spaced apart along the sides of the frame. Between the spaced rear teeth is formed a large opening I4 extending through the frame and around the bottom of this opening the walls are tapered upward and toward the openingas shown at I5 in Fig. 2. This formation results at the rear of the opening I4 of a wedged or triangular rib I6 to be used for a purpose hereafter mentioned.

The rear teeth also are quite flat and long and Y as disposed act as partial walls along the sides of the opening I4.

The forward end of the device is drawn to a somewhat pointed formation I1 and here an eye bolt ordevice I8 is connected and to which a hoist line cable may be connected. The front sides of the frame I0 are out away to form recesses vI9 yand a shaft 20 extends across through suitable openings in the frame and across these recesses to receive pear links or shackles such as 2| connected to suitable dragchains or cable connections 22. By removing key pins 23 from the shaft it can vbe longitudinally Withdrawn to permit removal of the shackles 2l when desired, if they are not otherwise removable.

' In the Operation of the device, the frame is operated with two cables the same as a standard dragline bucket and can bed cast into position by the intermediary of the load-line connection to shackle I8. Then the frame is dragged along the surface through connections 22. Depending upon the nature and toughness of the bedrock` the frontend may be tilted up by proper tension on the shackle I8 whereby the slope of the front face of the teeth I2 may be varied as desired. If the surface is very hard the teeth may thus be lifted to raise the front teeth out of the rock contact whereby the whole load is on the rear teeth. It is also possible to tilt the frame still more and lift all the'teeth points from contact whereupon the triangular scraper rib I6 comes into play scraping the already ripped rock out ofthe cut so that the operation vcan'be continued. The material thus scraped loose will pile up in front of the rib I6 and pass up and through the opening I4 and out of the same Vto be picked up by any suitable device to follow. The side teeth at the rear will act as baiiies to guide and direct the material up through I out departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest aspects. Hence it is desired to cover any and all forms and modifications of the invention which may come within the language or scope of any one or more of the appended claims.

Y What I claim as my invention, is:

l. A dragline ripper which comprises a heavy frame, large, strong teeth dependent therefrom, to vbe dragged through bedrock, a transverse scraper rib along lthe bottomrof the frame and along the rear edge thereof, said frame having an opening therethrough immediately in front of the rib, and a pair of said teeth, disposed at the rear of the frame on opposite sides and adjacent said opening. Y

2. A dragline ripper which comprises a heavy frame, large, strong teeth dependent therefrom, to -be dragged through bedrock, a transverse scraper rib along the bottom of the frame and along the rear edge thereof, said frame having an opening therethrough immediately in front of the rib, the walls of the frame at the bottom around said opening being sloped up toward a pair Yof said teeth, disposed at the rear of the frame on opposite sides and adjacent said opening, and means on the frame whereby the front'. end may be lifted to vary the pitch of theteeth and to bring said rib into scraping action.

Gus UoTiLA. JOHN W. SANDUSKY.

REFERENCES CITED f The following references are of'record in the file o f this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Troup NOV. 24, 1942 

